For the second straight year, the UST Growling Tigers posted a 1-6 win-loss record after the first round, good enough to be the undisputed bottom dwellers of UAAP Season 86. It is a dispiriting sight, one that the University may have unconsciously found themselves familiar with.

Last year, the Tigers only tallied a single win, that is at the season-opener against the Adamson Falcons. This season, it took them the entire gauntlet of teams before securing their first victory, in the process snapping a painfully historic 19-game losing skid.

But last year’s squad and this year’s Growling Tigers are two different iterations.

One, the Tigers now have Pido Jarencio at the helm, taking over the job from a fellow Thomasian legend and Philippine Basketball superstar Bal David. The team also has a new set of recruits and a coaching staff full of proven winners. Not to mention, a new, title-eager management backing the ins and outs of the team with the aim of turning the tables in favor of UST.

Instead of a positive turn, however, it seemed like the team found themselves on an unbalanced scale once more. Rounding up the first round of play reveals this uneven contrast.

For starters, basketball is a sport of two ends — offense and defense. For the Tigers, last year was an offensive nightmare, displaying the worst offense in the league on both the advanced stats (79.6 offensive rating) and the traditional counting numbers (59.6 points per game). Offensive rating or ORTG is the total amount of points a team scored in 100 possessions.

UST’s defense was not that bad, but, considering its horrid offense, making up for what the offense can’t provide is too far-fetched to accomplish. The Tigers had the sixth-best defensive rating last season at 94.4—the total amount of points the team gives up per 100 possessions.

Fast forward to Season 86, the Tigers currently have the fifth best offense in the league with a 88.39 ORTG. UST also ranks fifth in points scored per game at 72.86. They also scored 70 or more points in five of the seven first-round games this season. To put it in perspective, it took UST until the eighth game of the season or the first game of the second round to tally a final score of 70-plus points in Season 85.

Despite these offensive breakthroughs, defense has thrown a monkey wrench on the Tigers’ results.

UST ranks dead last in defense with a defensive rating of 103.06, about 10 defensive points worse than the seventh-best in the league and 14 points worse than league average. The team also gives up the most points per game this season at 86.57, which is about 12 more points than the next team in the ranking.

The Tigers also surrendered the most points in the paint with 35.43 per game while being the worst rebounding team in the league with just an average of 40.4 boards a game.

This lackluster defense manifested heavily in their 79-110 loss against the UP Fighting Maroons in the most lopsided defeat of a team this season. The Maroons final tally was the second most points scored by a team since Season 84.

LACK OF PAINT PATROL

Interior resistance has been the main culprit of this. Opposing teams scoring layups and uncontested baskets from inside have been a norm rather than the exceptions in the Tigers’ games.

(Screengrab from Cignal Inc.)

The Growling Tigers’ lack of paint coverage can be mostly attributed to the injury of foreign student-athlete Adama Faye. The six-foot-nine Faye has only played two games and logged just 11 minutes this season, leaving the painted area with a massive hole for the Tigers to fill.

Faye has been suffering from a back injury since the season started. His presence down low would have swung some of the Tigers’ games in the first round, or even reduced the team’s average losing margin so far of 17 points.

Faye led the league in rebounds in Season 85 with 12.23 boards per game while having the second-most blocks at 2.15 per outing.

(Screengrab from Cignal Inc.)

(Screengrab from Cignal Inc.)

“Ever since naman, hindi naman kami nag-make excuse kapag wala si Faye. Kung sino yung available, tiwala lang kami,” assistant coach Japs Cuan said.

While the sport is a multi-faceted game and a lot of moving parts beg to consider, Faye’s production and mere presence defensively has been dearly missed.

In the end of the day, games are played and won through striking a balance between offense and defense. If UST’s lone victory against the FEU Tamaraws on Sunday unravelled anything, it is that the Tigers have what it takes to snap out of their own slump.

Nic Cabanero topped all tournament scorers with 20.57 points per game. Christian Manaytay normed 13.86 markers, good for the sixth-best after the first round. Certainly, the Tigers have the offensive tools to tally enough points to have a crack on winning games.

This team has already overcame a massive hurdle bugging the squad — the unfortunate right to have the longest losing streak in school’s history. Now, the Growling Tigers have a bigger picture ahead of them, one that requires offensive potency and a defensive mastery.

After all, the promise is not to win one game a year. Perhaps, striking that balance awaits in the second round.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats are courtesy of the UAAP and RC Rodriguez (@smarkersmashbot on X)